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Did Grandma, Mom or Dad embarrass
you when they'd make you pull the
car over to pick up a can, piece of
clothing, blanket, etc.?
Welcome to the next generation of
free, where it's cool to accept
gifts and free items from others.
When you’re young, it can often be embarrassing for your clothes to come from a consignment shop or a thrift store. Even more mortifying is the possibility of your parents actually stopping to pick things up from the side of the road, or retrieving items that have been placed out to the curb by neighbors; the stigma created by this type of childhood thought can help to propagate these feelings into adulthood and lead to you being much more self-conscious in regards to how you look and act. The problem is that there is an entire generation who has grown up this way, and as a population this can lead to increased waste and much more junk clogging landfills or filling illegal dumps. It’s possible to overcome this stigma, however, though it can take a bit of work and a willingness to consider a larger world view.
Examining the Stigma
Before you can begin working toward overcoming this negative stigma that clouds your views on reusing discarded or unwanted items and materials, it’s important that you take the time to consider why you have these feelings in the first place. Often this stigma is the direct result of a fear of what others will think of you if they knew that your parents shopped at thrift stores or reused thrown-away items; these fears are usually unfounded, but to a young child it can be difficult to draw the line between self-image and the image that others have of you. Too much time worrying about what others might think (and not even what they do think) can set up personal insecurities for later in life. Once you begin to trace these insecurities back to their source, however, it can become much easier to overcome them and begin looking for alternatives to an expensive and highly commercial lifestyle.
Considering Your Place in the World
Stop for a moment and consider the effects that reusing materials either through resale through thrift outlets or by directly rescuing them from discard. Not only does this help to keep items that are in otherwise good shape out of the landfills where they would only cause them to become overfull quicker, but this can also help you to save money in that you won’t have to pay full price for the same item if you were to buy it new. In the case of buying clothes and other goods from thrift or goodwill stores, you can also help to fund local charities, community free clinics, homeless shelters, or a variety of other civil service locations that rely on contributions to stay open. Even if you only shop these stores once per month, anything that you buy can go a long way toward doing good in your community.
When Trash Becomes Treasure
Of course, you won’t have use for everything that someone else would consider throwing away… just like not everything that you might be thinking about getting rid of would be useful to others. You should keep in mind that most items that are still in average or better condition stand a good chance of being useful to someone, however, and the things that you’ve been thinking about getting but haven’t been able to afford might be available from someone else who no longer has a need of it. At least try to keep your mind open about reusing previously owned goods, and don’t let those items which may still have quite a bit of use left in them get discarded simply because you worry what others might think about you claiming them.
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